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Neil, if you get stuck or need advice on how stuff works on your boat etc I am only about an hours drive away and dont mind popping up if thats any help? I am busy most of tomorrow but then am clear between sort of 10 and 3 each day after that. You can reply on here or pm if you prefer. Tim

House completion date set for February 28th so I’ll be paying balance on my boat same day just 24 days to go.....yeeeeees

Thanks to all for the offers of help, I’ve managed to have sight of the review now. The lads at CTS and myself reckoned that the finished boat was so vivid that a commemorative beer called Swandazzler should have been brewed to celebrate the completion. Truly, it was a marathon!

Of course you can’t see it. That’s the whole point of magic!

I think it needs to be fitted to the offside of the A45 bridge in Braunston, Bridge 90, to stop any more widebeams travelling the N Oxford.

The canal will be closed near Barton aqueduct from 8.00am on Wednesday 5th February 2020 until further notice. As yet no reason has been given for the stoppage. Info from the Bridgewater Canal Company.

congrats and all the best

All good Martin I am sure you will enjoy the boating life ?

Some years ago my son came up with a theory that the reason warm-air hand dryers work is that they force you stand still rubbing your hands together for 60 seconds. Experience suggests he was right -- but if it's one of those horrible vortex things you'll get noise-induced deafness into the bargain. Not come across that, but if the performance of our cheap-as-chips Beko dishwasher is anything to go by, it'll be a good 'un.

Ray In some ways it will be very sad if her body is found in the canal after so many years but it would give closure to the family.

Any chance of a . Encouraging Boating

No, the public Message is next to my Avatar The PM message is next to the 'follow member' button.

You started it!

A minor edit to satisfy my pedantry.

Those rubber tubes are next to useless. Replace them with 2 or 3 rope fenders, with ropes which are long enough to tie to the roof handrail. Rope fenders are fatter and will do a better job of keeping the boat away from an irregular bank. Deploy them only when mooring, and then only on the bank side (which is why 2-3 are enough). When under way you can leave them on the roof, but tidier to put them away in a locker until the end of the day.

Don't throw away that handheld compass yet. Although it is highly inaccurate for compass bearings on a steel vessel it is very useful for taking numerical bearings from buoys and beacons as you transit a channel influenced by tidal streams that may be running across your intended course. You need to be able to maintain a straight course over the ground between the buoys while the water - and possibly the wind - is working to push you sideways out of the navigable channel and potentially onto a sandbank. To stay on course once you have rounded a buoy and have lined up with the next one you (or more practically your co pilot) take a bearing of the last buoy over the stern. By continually checking that back bearing and adjusting your heading so the bearing stays the same you will follow a straight line to the next buoy, even if the boat is crabbing across the piece of water. In this case you are not worried about magnetic variation or deviation as you are simply using the number the hand bearing compass gives you as you point it at the buoy. This is particularly useful when you cannot rely on GPS - in this case when exiting the River Nene - where the channel moves regularly and the vector charts in the GPS are highly inaccurate to the point that if you followed them you would end up on a sandbank. It is definitely visual pilotage at this stage.

I've never understood the 4' thing either. That's not really wide enough to be called a double. My bed is 4'6" wide and is perfectly fine to walk past. The bed is a proper size and I get the added benefit that I can buy a mattress from any bed shop, fitted sheets fit properly etc. I often look at boats for sale out of curiousity and see really high spec boats with well thought out layouts, but with a 4' bed - and think to myself "that's the first thing I'd change"

Hi Regards re sleeting the co. As was said before you shouldn't have to re set the co when changing the burner. I have repaired quite a few and have never had to do it. The co adjuster is a Allen key on the side of the combustion air blower but it should only be done if you have a co meter. When you put the heater back together check to see it is smoking or has a lot of fumes then check the co and adjust. Terry. Night heater solutions

If you have a caravan on you will not be overtaking me! Say it however you like but hard shoulder running is a death trap supported by the number of people who have been killed on them recently

Pop round and show me how to do that will ya?!

No doubt you will be there sticking your daggers in to your best mate.

Note that his exact words were "" I'm lucky enough to own the rights to a communal stretch of land which backs onto the river"" so I did realise he was talking about the Thames, and is why I stated he should check the legal status very carefully.

Fire damaged GRP might be a difficult repair, I've never done it though. Fire damaged steel boat? I would say that so long as its not distorted then yes. Its a better bet than a knackered old joey boat that many of us started with. Big job but yes, have a go but keep the towpath and boat tidy to avoid attention as much as poss.

It has been suggested a couple of times here that you look in at the DBA site www.barges.org where you will get a lot more useful information from those of us who've done what you are contemplating, such as dave&pen. Even better would be to join the DBA - a very moderate fee. There are several American/Australasian contributors who explain what they have done as non-EU visitors, both short term and long term, giving clues to how UK nationals will have to act once we become third world inhabitants. DBA is also very useful for practical matters of life afloat in its widest sense. DBA members are as diverse as here, but at least If you ask such a question you won't have it turn into a jibe-fest by crass bigots as on this thread. Tam